BBC Store announces closure just 18 months after opening

[HEXUS]

Those who bought digital goods will be refunded, as they will cease to be playable.

Read more.

[Kushan]

Maybe it's just me, but I begrudge paying for anything my license fee has helped create.

Let alone paying for it to be DRM'd and only playable through a website that could disappear at any time. Is it any surprise nobody wanted this?

[LSG501]

Maybe it's just me, but I begrudge paying for anything my license fee has helped create.

you're not the only one....

Let alone paying for it to be DRM'd and only playable through a website that could disappear at any time. Is it any surprise nobody wanted this?

Because of the DRM the bbc is now having to refund everyone too with extra in some cases from 'public money'.... and companies wonder why people hate drm so much, it's because of this very scenario where we basically can't use/watch what we have purchased if the drm provider shuts down.

Until companies realise that drm is hurting them as much as helping them getting the files from alternative, less legal, sources will still be popular.

[aidanjt]

I didn't even know it existed, and I'd like to think I keep my ear fairly close to the ground on the internet.

[Corky34]

Maybe it's just me, but I begrudge paying for anything my license fee has helped create.

Wasn't the store funded by BBC Worldwide who i think is a commercial enterprise generating profits that are returned to the BBC, in effect BBC Worldwide helps fund the BBC and probably helps reduce the license fee.

[frozen-monkey]

Wasn't the store funded by BBC Worldwide who i think is a commercial enterprise generating profits that are returned to the BBC, in effect BBC Worldwide helps fund the BBC and probably helps reduce the license fee.

This +1, sadly not a lot of people know this

[3dcandy]

I can see why many people didn't use it - there is an abundance of content (mostly) free available so why would you pay effectively twice?
And drm'd too for added insult...

[Xlucine]

you're not the only one....

Because of the DRM the bbc is now having to refund everyone too with extra in some cases from 'public money'.... and companies wonder why people hate drm so much, it's because of this very scenario where we basically can't use/watch what we have purchased if the drm provider shuts down.

Until companies realise that drm is hurting them as much as helping them getting the files from alternative, less legal, sources will still be popular.

It's a safe bet that the cost of the amazon credit is a lot less than the sum of money involved

[cflymo]

Maybe it's just me, but I begrudge paying for anything my license fee has helped create.

Wasn't the store funded by BBC Worldwide who i think is a commercial enterprise generating profits that are returned to the BBC, in effect BBC Worldwide helps fund the BBC and probably helps reduce the license fee.

I think the point was that the content was originally created through the use of public money and the license fee so we in the UK have already paid for it in that sense, and therefore why should we have to pay again? The key here is the 'Worldwide' bit - the rest of the world hasn't already paid for the content to be made and therefore charging them to watch it is appropriate but we are being asked to pay again to watch it when we want even though we paid for it's creation already.

Personally, I think a small charge to help defray the costs of delivery is OK (although you could conceivably argue that the profits made from selling it outside the UK should really pay for that), but as someone else pointed out, the real problem is the odious DRM which renders it unusable now that the store is shutting down. I imagine there will be a not insignificant one-off cost to the BBC to administer the closure of the store and all those refunds (although maybe not that much since lack of it being used is the reason it's closing!).

[samuraiweasel]

They should integrate it with the upcoming sign in system coming for iPlayer and have it ALL FREE for users who pay the TV License.

[b0redom]

I still don't understand why in this day and age DRM is even a thing. It strikes me that all studios etc could release content as high def MKVs and as part of the purchasing process encode the user's userid or similar into a few frames. Sure it wouldn't stop the hardcore from removing it, but then you have guys with access to pre-release movies etc anyway. For the most part it would stop people sharing content, and price could come down to a reasonable level. Say for example the digital release is at least on a par with the physical media.

I don't want physical media. It is easily damaged/lost, bulky and environmentally wasteful. The only reason I buy it is because it's usually cheaper to do that and then rip it than it is to purchase it digitally, and when I do buy it digitally I am frequently unable to watch it on a particular device.

[Corky34]

I think the point was that the content was originally created through the use of public money and the license fee so we in the UK have already paid for it in that sense, and therefore why should we have to pay again? The key here is the 'Worldwide' bit - the rest of the world hasn't already paid for the content to be made and therefore charging them to watch it is appropriate but we are being asked to pay again to watch it when we want even though we paid for it's creation already.

The silly thing is, after having done some reading, apparently the BBC store was only available to UK customers, it's almost like they wanted it to fail as, like you've highlighted, not only were they expecting UK customers to pay twice but they didn't even bother opening it up to non license fee payers from around the world.

[Kumagoro]

With iPlayer requiring logins hopefully they will exploit the opportunity to sell internationally.

[GrahamC]

Maybe it's just me, but I begrudge paying for anything my license fee has helped create.

Wasn't the store funded by BBC Worldwide who i think is a commercial enterprise generating profits that are returned to the BBC, in effect BBC Worldwide helps fund the BBC and probably helps reduce the license fee.

Yup +2 a lot of miss information about the Beeb as usual. TBH I actually like that they tried this, it's failed but meh!. At least they haven't dragged it out building up big losses. I had a couple of purchases and will prob go Amazon with my refund.

[Ngt]

I had no idea at all that this even existed. I feel that may have been part of the problem.

[Smudger]

I knew this existed, but I didn't realise it was UK-only.
I signed up to it, I think to get hold of the first episode of The Last Kingdom, which was set to delete 'when space required' rather than when I chose. I think I got it free with a launch code anyway. Not much of the other content interested me. If it's an upcoming series, I'll series-link it, or use iPlayer if I forget.

I think I've only ever bought 1 BBC series, that was Planet Earth 2 on UHD, and that's because there's nowhere else to get the UHD/HDR version at present. And that was very much worth it.